We see from the above that living in the eternal Sabbath requires constant prayer. If we are to always do what pleases God then we have to be in touch with Him continually. The Bible gives us general guidelines but it does not tell us what to do in each specific instance. But the Spirit of God will tell us what to do if we are listening.

Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. (John 10:37—NIV)

"If you honor it (the Sabbath) by not going your own way and not doing as you please."

Don't you believe I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. (John 14:10,11—NIV)

If you stop to think about it, we never really "saw" the Lord Jesus or heard His words. The Sermon on the Mount did not actually come from the Lord but from the Father in Heaven. Whoever sees Jesus is seeing the Father. Whoever hears the words of Jesus is hearing the words of the Father.

This is the spiritual fulfillment of the Jewish feast of Tabernacles, the major convocation that comes after the feast of Pentecost.

Paul was dwelling in the feast of Tabernacles. The life Paul was living was that of Christ living in him. This is the rest of God.

Can you see now why the writer of the Book of Hebrews was so upset? He knew the Jewish believers, although they were saved and filled with the Spirit as we use the terms, were not continuing to press forward that they might be living in the eternal Sabbath rest of God.

There really remains much more of God for us who have come as far as Pentecost.

We have discussed two dimensions of the rest of God, as presented in the fourth chapter of the Book of Hebrews. The first dimension has to do with the fact that God finished all His works when He created the world. The second dimension concerns the eternal Sabbath rest of God.

The third dimension of the rest of God refers to Canaan, to the land of promise.

We rest in the fact that God finished all His works in six days. We rest in the fact that we do not have to speak our own words or perform our own works. We might refer to these two aspects as the rest that we experience on the way to the rest.

Canaan is our goal, our land of promise, our rest. But of what is Canaan a symbol?

So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. (Exodus 3:8—NIV)

Traditionally Heaven, the spirit Paradise, is thought of as our Canaan, our land of promise, the goal of our salvation. We are saved to go to Heaven. But a little thought will reveal that Heaven does not really fulfill the types. Do we have to fight our way city by city to enter Heaven? Is Heaven occupied by tribes that worship demons?

To be continued.